The Pressure to Be Productive

At least for me, I have always felt a pressure to be productive. That I should do everything I can to further my career at all times. I should be doing this and I should be doing that. I should be striving towards this specific idea of success. At some point, it becomes unsustainable and your life is no longer your life. Your life should be so much more than your career.

Say it with me: YOU ARE MORE THAN YOUR CAREER.

You are a human being and you deserve to have a boundary between your work life and your life life. We are not machines. We were not made to just wake up and make money.

I felt like I was lazy as a child. I felt like I was lazy because that was what I was told. I enjoyed watching TV and playing computer games (hello webkinz and disneychannel.com). I wasn’t constantly studying or getting my homework done right away. It was because I didn’t have to do those things in order to do well. I was a super overachiever as a kid and didn’t need to spend hours practicing because academics came naturally. I was fed this information that I needed to be doing more. I wasn’t allowed to enjoy watching TV because I could have been doing more to further my education. By high school I was feeling challenged by school and DID need to put in that extra effort, but was no longer able to enjoy my downtime because I felt guilty for not using it to push myself further.

We all deserve to rest. Real rest, without guilt or anxiety. We shouldn ‘t feel like if we aren't furthering ourselves that we are wasting our time. Time is never wasted. You ALWAYS get to choose what you do with your time.

This is going to be my only plug for myself in this post: If you own a business, I want to help you to get to a point where your work life is manageable and you can enjoy your life outside of that. You started your business to build your career on your terms. You deserve to have a life on your terms too!!